


Whiskey, and Liars, and Thieves

by Molly_Hats



Category: Batman (Comics), Huntress (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Alcohol, Ambiguously Underage Drinking, Drinking, Gen, Light Swearing, flirting? Maybe? Idk I can’t write it if I try
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-19 00:54:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13693482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Molly_Hats/pseuds/Molly_Hats
Summary: New York City.  No capes.Dick runs a bar.  Helena runs away from her family.  Jason runs from the law.AU based on “The whiskey, the liar, the thief” by Patent Pending





	Whiskey, and Liars, and Thieves

When Jason swaggered into the Wounded Duck, fresh off of another successful night’s work, he found an unfamiliar girl seated at the bar. Her purple dress was plain, but finely made, and she stood out from the predominantly male smattering of patrons in varying states of drunken stupor around the bar. She was seated right in front of Dick, and Jason wasn’t remotely surprised. Dick was quite popular with the feminine crowd; Jason was pretty sure it was his tuchus. 

Dick looked up from behind the bar, catching Jason’s eye over the girl’s shoulder. “Todd. What can I get you?”

Jason sat down on the stool next to the girl and smiled, setting down a few bills. “The regular.”

Dick nodded, turned away, and slid him a glass of whiskey and ice a few moments later. “Would you like anything else, miss?” he asked, turning his head to the girl.

The girl shook her head, idly twisting her half-consumed glass of what Jason would guess was whiskey on the rocks, although by this point it was more whiskey on the pebbles.

Dick wandered off to tend to the other patrons, although “patrons” might be a generous word, since the Wounded Duck was the kind of place where low-level thugs and ne’er do wells went when they had some time and money to kill. The higher-ups, the made men, and the women who liked that sort of thing went to the Iceberg Lounge.

Jason watched Dick idly, keeping an eye on the girl. A giggling bunch of young women all flushed as the handsome bartender approached, but Dick was amiable but professional, seeming not to notice.

“So...haven’t seen you here much.” Jason opened.

“Come here often, then?” Her voice was gorgeous, soft and slightly slurred with the half a glass of whisky on the rocks she’d already consumed, sounding like she was unused to talking, but well trained in How a Lady Talks. She had a bit of an accent--South Brooklyn, if he had to guess. Hand-me-down Sicilian. He’d done some odd jobs delegated several times over for that crowd. Not many, just eliminating scum of the earth not worthy of a proper Mafia execution, and some risky B&E.

“Often enough,” Jason said. “‘S your name?”

“Helena,” she said before taking a sip of her drink. 

“Got a last name?”

“Panessa. Is Todd your first name or your last name?”

“Think it’s my last,” Jason said with a smile and a swig of his drink. “Most of my friends call me Jay. Spent a couple months with the nuns, they called me Jason.”

Helena’s hand slipped to a chain at her neck, her hand curling around a delicate gold cross. Jason’s practiced eyes immediately sized it up as he waited for her to speak.

“Did you--”

“Convert? Nah. Too many rules. I was always in and out of trouble. Last straw was when I startled Mrs. Digatti during Vespers. She decked me a good one, came in here with quite a shiner.” He laughed and tipped his chin towards Dick. “He fixed me up.”

Helena followed the gesture, her gaze landing on Dick and resting there longer than strictly necessary. “He’s quite unique, isn’t he?”

_Oh. Here we go again_ , Jason thought to himself. “Yeah. We met back at the orphanage--he was a good kid, a new kid, bit too smart and nice for his own good.” He took another sip of his whiskey, his cup now nearly matching hers. “Amazing he’s made it this far, really, city this crazy.”

“He’s...nice.” Helena said, the hesitation not coming from disdain, but awe.

“And the butt certainly doesn’t hurt,” Jason muttered into his glass.

“What?”

“Nothing. You’re just not the first girl to eye up my brother.”

Helena blushed and took a delicate sip from her own glass. “Not like that.”

“Fine if you do. I’m used to it, he’s used to it, and I mean, he works at a bar. You’re guaranteed to get everybody to check out your ass even if it isn’t objectively perfect.”

Dick came over, eyebrow raised, wiping at the interior of a shot glass with a rag. “Are you discussing my ass _again_ , Jay?”

Jay shrugged and held up his hands at his sides, palms up in protest. “It deserves comment.”

Dick rolled his eyes. “Would you like anything else, Miss?” he asked Helena. 

“No, thank you,” Helena said with a small smile. 

Dick grinned that stupid lady killer grin and swept away.


End file.
